Should Junior Developers Still Learn JavaScript the Hard Way?

Let’s define “the hard way” first.

Not:

• Watching a 6-hour tutorial at 1.5× speed
• Copy-pasting code until it works
• Asking AI to “fix this” without reading the output

By the hard way, people usually mean:

• Vanilla JavaScript
• No frameworks at first
• Understanding what actually happens under the hood

So… in 2026, with AI copilots and frameworks everywhere:

Is that still necessary — or just gatekeeping with extra steps?

The tempting shortcut

A junior dev today can:

• Build a React app in an afternoon
• Deploy to the cloud without touching a server
• Generate code faster than they can read it

Honestly? That’s amazing.

But there’s a catch.

When something breaks — and it will — the question becomes:

Do you understand JavaScript… or just the framework?

What “learning the hard way” actually gives you

Learning JavaScript fundamentals isn’t about suffering.
It’s about control.

If you understand:

• Closures
• Scope & hoisting
• this (yes, unfortunately)
• The event loop
• Async behavior beyond “just use async/await”

You stop being surprised by bugs.

You don’t panic when:

• State updates behave weirdly
• Performance tanks for no obvious reason
• Something works locally but fails in production You debug instead of guess.

Frameworks don’t replace fundamentals

Frameworks change.
JavaScript doesn’t (well… not that much).

The React you learn today won’t look the same in 3–4 years.
The JavaScript concepts underneath? Still there.

If you skip the fundamentals:

• Every new framework feels like starting over
• You rely heavily on Stack Overflow and AI
• Debugging feels like superstition

If you learn them:

• New tools feel familiar
• You adapt faster
• You write simpler, cleaner code The real problem with “the hard way”

The issue isn’t learning JavaScript fundamentals.

It’s how we teach them.

Endless for loops and contrived examples don’t help anyone.
Nobody gets excited by:

let sum = 0;
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
  sum += arr[i];
}

What does help?

• Small real-world projects
• Breaking things on purpose
• Seeing how raw JS powers actual apps

Hard doesn’t mean boring.
Hard means intentional.

So… should juniors still do it?

Yes — but not forever, and not alone.

A good path in 2026 looks like this:

1. Learn core JavaScript concepts
2. Build small things without frameworks
3. Then earn the abstractions

Skipping fundamentals entirely is risky.
Living in “vanilla JS only” land forever is pointless.

Balance matters.

Final take

JavaScript isn’t the hard part.

Understanding it is.

And that understanding pays off every single time:

• When frameworks change
• When AI gets it wrong
• When production is on fire and you’re the one fixing it

So yes — junior developers should still learn JavaScript the hard way.

Just not the stupid way.

Comments

[Richard Pascoe]

Once again, you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head, Art. In this era of AI-first development - driven as much by marketing and FOMO as by real utility - it’s more important than ever to remind beginner and junior developers that fundamentals should come first.

AI absolutely has its place. However, while senior developers have the experience to use it as a force multiplier, those just starting out often lack the context needed to spot the hallucinations and subtle errors that AI-based tools can introduce.

The same principle applies to learning JavaScript. Frameworks can boost productivity, but without a solid grasp of plain JavaScript, they become a crutch rather than a tool.

[Art light]

Really well said — this hits a point that doesn’t get emphasized enough. AI and frameworks are incredibly powerful, but without strong fundamentals they can quietly slow growth instead of accelerating it. I’m especially interested in how we can help juniors build that core knowledge first, so these tools become leverage, not a dependency.

[Richard Pascoe]

I think a big part of it is intentional sequencing. Teaching fundamentals first - things like data flow, basic architecture, and problem-solving - before introducing heavy abstractions helps juniors build a mental model of how things actually work.

AI and frameworks can then be introduced as layers on top of that foundation: tools to inspect, question, and refactor rather than accept blindly. Framing them as something to learn with (and sometimes without) goes a long way toward making them leverage instead of a dependency.

[Martí Serra Molina]

Learning JavaScript is an absolute must. If you don't know JavaScript you can't call yourself a frontend developer.

[Art light]

Absolutely agree — JavaScript is the backbone of modern frontend development, and mastering it opens the door to everything else. Having a strong JS foundation really shows you take your craft seriously and sets you up for long-term growth. 💪

[Pascal CESCATO]

You're absolutely right.
Learning JavaScript the hard way still matters — and not only for juniors.
It’s true for every language we use, and honestly, it’s something even senior developers shouldn’t skip.

[Gábor Mészáros]

There is a quick and dirty way to learn it: give them an actual project (not a client one, a learning one) and prohibit them from using coding agents for anything else than explanation and snippets.

They will fail a LOT, which is the point. This type of failure builds experience, expands understanding and enforces architectural thinking.

So yeah, totally agree. Learn the hard way, it's extremely beneficial.

[Ntombizakhona Mabaso]

yes.

[Shitij Bhatnagar]

There are no short cuts in technology, AI chat bot can produce a starter code that is good enough to confuse any junior (and sometimes even seniors), so best to do the first steps in the traditional way. Never skip the deep dive in purpose, syntax, exercises in Java script, because later when you use any other wrapper tool (that internally uses Java script) and you shall see an error message related to Java script, you would thank yourself for having gone through Java script or any language thoroughly earlier; at the same time, you would be able to appreciate how much time that wrapper tool saves by helping you avoid the boiler plate Java script code - there are many such tools, I am just giving an inference.

Having said that, a balance is needed in learning else it becomes very defeating / boring, so must do side projects to test the language, learn the suitability of when to use when :-)

Thanks for the article.

Also, I wrote an article about Junior developers specifically - feel free to have a look at it and share any feedback (in case) - dev.to/shitij_bhatnagar_b6d1be72/d...

[PEACEBINFLOW]

Yeah, I’m pretty aligned with this — especially the distinction between hard and stupid.

I don’t think juniors need to live in vanilla JS purgatory forever, but skipping fundamentals entirely is basically borrowing trouble from your future self. Things work until they don’t, and when they break, the gap shows immediately. You either understand what’s happening under the abstraction… or you’re just poking at it and hoping.

The “control” point is the real one for me. Knowing closures, the event loop, async behavior, etc., isn’t about flexing knowledge — it’s about not being surprised all the time. Debugging feels very different when you’re reasoning instead of guessing.

I also like how you called out teaching. A lot of “learn JS the hard way” advice fails because it’s framed like a rite of suffering. Endless toy examples don’t build intuition; breaking real things does. Small, messy projects where you actually see how JS behaves go way further than memorizing syntax.

AI makes this even more relevant, honestly. When AI gets something subtly wrong, fundamentals are what let you catch it. Otherwise you just accept the output because it looks confident.

So yeah — learn the core, earn the abstractions, move on when it makes sense. Balance beats dogma every time.